"We're disappointed that Delmarva has not agreed to more terms that we've negotiated for over three and a half months," said Bluewater Wind spokesman Jim Lanard. Bluewater is committed to resolving the outstanding differences, and is willing to get back into the negotiating room next week, he said.

"Contrary to what Delmarva has said in its filing today, the Bluewater Wind prices in the term sheet will result in great benefits to Delmarva's ratepayers," Lanard said.

Bluewater wants Delmarva to release its methodology for evaluating the costs to consumers, a point of view Matt Denn quickly echoed in a letter to the relevant state agencies:

The state should not blindly rely upon the company that is the chief opponent of the Bluewater Wind project to calculate that project’s cost.

Denn goes on to raise the issue of the health benefits of wind power:

Once a real determination of the cost of the Bluewater Wind project has been calculated, I hope you will consider the project’s health benefits in making your ultimate decision in this matter.

By the way, Denn isn't the only statewide official paying attention to recent developments; I have heard that other officials have been on the phone to the parties involved. I would expect to hear more in the next few days. I plan to take the weekend to review the 95 page filing. Besides reviewing the economics of the proposed deal, I plan to take a closer look at the threat of litigation, the matter of how Delmarva would evaluate the proposal's impact on ratepayers and Delmarva's stated concern over the impact of an arcane accounting rule call FASB Interpretation No. 46. Stay tuned.

8 Comments:

In the too good to be truw column, someone told me today that the City of Philadelphia is poised to get out-fitted with new, better solar cell system that comes out of U. Penn and U. Del. research.The word is that this product is up and running and is far, far cheaper than the off shore wind farm (published in the newspaper but I must have missed it).

To boot, my pal said that scuttlebutt declaring that inland wind farming is the newest thing going in PA and also a less expensive option than the off shore variety.

I told this friend that the Europeans are recouping huge benefit from the off shore wind farming. I wondered where this alternative energy energy was coming from. Any guesses?

Will Philly's solar array generate 1.3 million MW of energy a year? That's the estimate for the BWW bid of only 150 turbines, all those megawatts going to Delaware. Cheap can't be the answer when we have some of the filthiest, most disease-producing pollution in the whole country. Buying land-based wind power from out of state does nothing for Delaware's economy, job future, pollution problem or its stated intention to become more energy-independent. Who's into onshore wind? NRG for certain. Who else? Pepco and its subsidiary Delmarva Power, in order to retain monopoly control over Delaware's energy profits and its future.

"A new solar energy power station is being built in southeastern Pennsylvania that will be the fourth-largest facility of its kind in the country and the largest east of Arizona when operations begin next April. Plans call for more than 16,500 solar panels to be installed on 16.5 acres, adjacent to Waste Management’s GROWS Landfill, in Falls Township, about 30 miles north of Philadelphia."

The project looks interesting, though the scale of the solar project and the offshore wind farm are not comparable. Based on a rough caomparison, the wind farm is projected to generate about 300 times as much electricity as the solar project.